Rachel Homan reclaimed the Canadian girls’s curling championship seven years after her final one with a 5-4 win over Jennifer Jones on Sunday.
Homan and longtime teammate Emma Miskew gained their fourth titles and lead Sarah Wilkes her second. It was the primary for Homan’s third Tracy Fleury.
“Unbelievable,” Homan mentioned. “Tracy Fleury is an unbelievable competitor and so pleased we will win it together with her.
“Phenomenal to have the ability to do it with my children right here. One’s lacking again at residence as a result of he doesn’t sleep, however I do know he’s cheering exhausting.”
Workforce Ontario-Homan skip Rachel Homan, left to proper, vice-skip Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, lead Sarah Wilkes stand with the trophy after defeating Workforce Manitoba-Jones within the remaining on the Scotties Event of Hearts in Calgary, Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
They may characterize Canada on the world championship March 16-24 in Sydney, N.S., and can return to the 2025 Scotties Event of Hearts in Thunder Bay, Ont., as defending champions.
Homan’s crew additionally earned $100,000 in prize cash for the victory, in addition to a berth within the 2025 Canadian curling trials pending a top-six end in Sydney.
Homan gained three Event of Hearts between 2013 and 2017 and misplaced within the remaining three straight years between 2019 and 2021. The skip gave beginning to her third youngster final yr and Wilkes additionally had her first youngster.
“I can’t describe the sensation of simply coming so shut, so many instances shedding, I don’t know, looks like seven finals,” Homan mentioned.
“We put within the work and we didn’t have as a lot time as we’d have appreciated due to the children, however I wouldn’t have had it some other manner. They encourage us. So excited to get to share this journey with them and present them dedication and exhausting work and setting your objectives excessive.”
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Her Ottawa Curling Membership foursome went undefeated at 11-0 in Calgary on the energy of defence that averaged lower than 4 factors in opposition to per sport, and in a discipline that featured the top-eight ranked groups in Canada.
Homan didn’t quit a steal within the event till a playoff win over Jones that went to an additional finish Saturday. Homan additionally defeated Jones 7-5 in pool play.
“We needed to beat them thrice and it got here all the way down to the final rock on each single one,” the skip mentioned.
Six-time champion Jones intends to retire from girls’s crew curling on the finish of this season, though the 49-year-old from Winnipeg will compete in combined doubles together with her husband.
The adorned veteran misplaced in a Hearts remaining, which was the eleventh of her profession, a second straight yr. Homan had hammer coming residence with the rating tied 4-4, however she didn’t have to throw her final rock.
Jones, needing to attract to the button together with her remaining rock, rubbed on an Ontario stone within the four-foot rings and rolled simply vast, which gave Homan her level for the victory.
“My final one acquired by. You (don’t) wish to finish on a miss,” Jones mentioned. “I assumed we performed a very nice sport in the present day. We confirmed as much as play and it might have gone both manner and sadly it didn’t go our manner in the present day.”
Jones stood in the midst of the home-end rings to acknowledge the standing ovation she acquired on the sold-out crowd of three,195 at WinSport Occasion Centre.
“I like being a part of this curling neighborhood,” Jones mentioned. “The standing ovation was greater than I might have ever anticipated, the truth that all these folks got here and supported our sport and sort of assist me means the world.
“This second, it’s actually exhausting to say goodbye to be trustworthy.”
Homan led 3-1 on the fifth finish break with a steal of 1 within the fifth. Homan outcurled Jones 98 per cent to 68 over the primary 5 ends.
After blanking the sixth finish Jones executed a tough faucet for one within the seventh to path 3-2. Homan tapped and rolled to the button for one within the eighth for a 4-2 lead.
Jones grouped rocks within the ninth to to arrange for a multi-point finish. Homan managed to clear a pair, however left her counterpart a shot for 2 to tie the sport.
After lead Joanne Courtney retired in 2022, Homan introduced Fleury on board to skip and throw third stones, whereas she threw fourth rocks.
Longtime third Emma Miskew shifted to second and Wilkes to guide. They didn’t attain the ultimate 4 in final yr’s Hearts in Kamloops, B.C.
Homan took the broom again this season because the 4 girls settled into their new positions. They’ve misplaced simply 5 video games in nearly 60 performed this season.
“You set within the work and also you hope it’s sufficient,” Homan mentioned. “At present it was sufficient.”
Homan, Miskew, Courtney and Lisa Weagle gained a world championship in 2017 in Beijing, a silver medal in 2014 in Saint John, N.B., and a bronze in 2013 in Riga, Latvia.
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